Idols -- Thoughts on Prayer

“Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There are devoted things among you, Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them.'”  Joshua 7:13

          An unsurrendered thing becomes an idol.  To halt anywhere or over anything shows that that is of more account than God and His will.  If God wants one to run into the neighbors’ house and invite them to meeting, or urge them to give their hearts to God, or receive holiness, and that one declines or refuses and puts the duty or privilege upon the preacher, or some other worker, that prayer for that neighbor is defeated because self-will has come up above the divine will, and has, really, become an idol.

          I read with interest an incident in a certain mission-field.  The resident missionary had repute as being graciously devout and had special power in prayer and specially for the recovery of the sick.

          A cultured heathen had a lovely daughter who was dangerously ill.  The story is that he waited upon the missionary, seeking to have him pray for the recovery of the child.  The missionary told him that he would do so upon one condition, and that was that the heathen should forsake his idols and turn to God.

          This the heathen, after a decided struggle, promised to do.

          The missionary went to prayer.  But the heavens were brass over him and the earth as iron beneath his feet.  Finally he called the heathen-man and said to him, “God hears me pray.  But not this time.  You have not done as you agreed – you have not destroyed your idols.”

After some painful hedging the heathen confessed that while he had put away the idols in general, there was one he had not destroyed.  This the missionary demanded should be done, and it was finally brought out and before his eyes broken to pieces.  Then, the prayer was offered that saved the child.

          This may be a mere story that has no reality in fact.  But, it might be true.  It illustrates the idea I am seeking to here enforce, that prayer that succeeds must have the whole man.  Short of this, it is not sincere.  It simply seeks to make a convenience of one who can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, and if we could we would not ask Him, since we have so little in common with Him.

--Rev. Charles Fowler, 1912

Motive -- Thoughts on Prayer

You do not have because you do not ask God.  

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives….

James 4:2-3

          I think God wants His people at their best in all things.

          Take our bodies.  Does God want us ill and lame and used-up prematurely?  In itself, no.  So I think.  I  would not want people thus.  God is as well-wishing as I am, I judge.  If I could, I would make people well.  Had I the power I certainly would do this, and so would all, I am sure.  But, if I had divine wisdom as well as power I would do just as God does.

          There is something better than bodily health.  The headache and back-ache are not worst things.  Character is better than health, and sin is worse than physical pain.

          It is quite evident that the only way God can save the most of us is to let us have physical ills.  Not that He chooses the ills for us, but chooses what those are the means of securing to us, or in keeping from us of evil.

But, my contention is that with a right motive we might be differently circumstanced in just these particulars.

          In one of my charges as a pastor was a young woman of slender frame and precarious health.  She was a wife and mother who had her home to keep and its interests for which to care.  One day, climbing the chamber stairs, she rested half-way up, as she was wont to do.  While sitting on the stair-tread she said: “Oh God I am Thy child.  I love Thee.  I am in Thy service.  Thou canst give me a good and sound body.  Lord, if Thou wilt do this, I will give the added strength to Thee.  I will put no more into home-cares and personal interests, but will expend the new energy in Thy service.”

          Hardly were these words uttered—if uttered they were—when God healed her!  She jumped to her feet, ran up the stairs like a girl and has been a well woman ever since—for years.  And she kept her covenant with God, and is keeping it now.  I know her well.

          Motive!  Motive is vital!  “Ye ask and receive not … that ye may consume it upon your lusts,” upon your own personal gratification.

--Rev. Charles Fowler, 1912

I Am the Good Shepherd (2)

Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd.”  John 10:11

“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Psalm 23:1

Read the story here: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2010,%20Psalm%2023&version=NIV

Listen to story here:  http://www.biblegateway.com/audio/dramatized/niv/John.10 and http://www.biblegateway.com/audio/dramatized/niv/Ps.23

 

Jesus told his followers “I am the Good Shepherd,” and they immediately understood he was referring them to a description of GOD.

The LORD is my Shepherd.

The Hebrews understood that the LORD, the God of the Universe, is a loving Creator; not a thunderbolt-throwing, maniacal Zeus.

          I shall not lack anything.

By making this connection between himself as shepherd and God as shepherd, Jesus is telling people that HE IS GOD, and he is highlighting the wonderfully appealing aspect of God’s nature as caregiver, nurturer and protector.

Has Jesus made good on this claim?

Centuries later Phillip Keller*, a shepherd himself, gives this testimony of Jesus:

I am completely satisfied with His management of my life. Why? Because He is the sheepman to whom no trouble is too great as He cares for His flock. He … loves them for their own sake as well as His personal pleasure in them. He will … be on the job twenty-four hours a day to see that they are properly provided for…

Personally, I am still not convinced!  How can Keller, or anyone else, say all their needs are taken care of.  I HAVE A LOT OF NEEDS!

Keller says we can learn a lot about God’s provision for our needs by looking at sheep and shepherds.  

It is almost impossible for them to be made to lie down unless four requirements are met:

·        They refuse to lie down unless they are free of all fear.

·        Sheep will not lie down unless they are free from friction with others of their kind.

·        Only when free of … pests can they relax.

·        They must be free from hunger.

And since sheep are basically helpless creatures, “only the sheepman himself can provide release from these anxieties.”

I hate to be compared to a helpless sheep, but can I really argue with God’s opinion?

I am a sheep.

And Jesus really has made good on his claim to be my Good Shepherd:

·        Whenever I pray to Jesus, he calms my fears. 

·        When I ask for help in difficult relationships with others, he gives me great wisdom. 

·        When I seek him for protection because illnesses and other circumstances are attacking me, he gives it. 

·        When I’ve prayed for clothes, a job, food, or a car, I’ve gotten it.

My story is the same as Phillip Keller’s:

Jesus is the Good Shepherd.

Is he yours?

*Keller, W. Phillip, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1970.